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K_Squared · 01-09-2013, 02:10 PM

Hi,
I'm a statistician and I would like to find some interesting data sets involving beer, in part so I can illustrate various statistical techniques in class. Mentioning beer usually perks up (graduate) students and I want to use such data to motivate some statistical techniques. So, I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can get some interesting data sets involving beer. For example, does data (not anecdotes) exist for the bootle vs. can debate with regards to freshness? What about preference data by demographics? What about predicting ratings of quality based on a set of predictors? I'm sure some big beer companies would have such data are part of their research, but I'm looking for something I could actually get and then use in class for examples.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Ken

PupThePup · 01-09-2013, 04:42 PM

You could get the typical malt analysis of barley from several different maltsters and do something with that (relate the fermentability of a wort to it's color???).

You could get a list of styles brewed by different micros and do something with that.

Readily available data in an excel spreadsheet, CSV file, or other data format... You may be hard pressed to find that.

Weather data, on the other hand, is generally available in readily accessible formats...

K_Squared · 01-09-2013, 05:55 PM

Hi PupThePup,
Thanks for your thoughts. On the malt analysis, that is really already in summary form. As it says "Typical analysis data is subject to standard analytical deviations. They represent average values, not to be considered as guarantees, expressed or implied, nor as a condition of sale." For my purposes, I would need the raw data in which the summary was formed. But, that would be an actual data set, which as you note (e.g., in Excel) may be hard to come by easily. I'm not so interested in weather data, beer is more interesting!
Ken

PupThePup · 01-09-2013, 06:04 PM

Quote:

On the malt analysis, that is really already in summary form. As it says "Typical analysis data is subject to standard analytical deviations. They represent average values, not to be considered as guarantees, expressed or implied, nor as a condition of sale." For my purposes, I would need the raw data in which the summary was formed.

Yup, try emailing Briess or Weyermann and see what they can give you (if anything).

**ajdelange** · 01-10-2013, 03:06 AM

I used PCA to come up with an improved way of specifying beer color (SRM plus a couple of PC's). If you think you might be interested in that PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send you a .pdf of the paper.

PupThePup · 01-10-2013, 02:40 PM

Quote:

I used PCA to come up with an improved way of specifying beer color

How did you determine that your PCA improved the specification of beer color? What test did you perform?

Bithead · 01-10-2013, 02:48 PM

Maybe the brewer's association can point you to some interesting data.

TyTanium · 01-10-2013, 02:49 PM

There's probably some interesting data for hops too. Stuff like AA/oil content vs. summer temp/rain/harvest date/latitude, etc. I would contact some of the professional organizations to see if they'll share data with you.

I would be very interested in whatever you find.

K_Squared · 01-10-2013, 03:08 PM

I've sent an email to the Brewers Association explaining what I'm looking for. I'm not expecting a useful response, but hopefully I'm wrong. The temp/rain/harvest etc. information for hops would be great. This is very similar to what Orley Ashenfelter did for wine (in particular, predicting what would be come good wine):
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/04/us/wine-equation-puts-some-noses-out-of-joint.html
I'd love to do something similar for beer, but that data just doesn't seem available without a Herculean effort.
Thanks for the thoughts.

PupThePup · 01-10-2013, 03:20 PM

You might do something with the Barley Variety Surveys and Weather Data for those regions...